Lexmas Chlex
by LanaaLuthor
Summary: Chlex at Lexmas. Short story.


Lex woke up from another long, drug induced sleep.

Christmas was almost over, what he could tell by glancing at the clock on the bedside table.

Good. He wanted it to be over. He never wanted another in his life.

That day he'd been mugged and shot.

Then he'd landed up in hospital, his life hanging by a thread. And the only person that had the right to decide of his health was his father. Lionel had taken the opportunity immediately and agreed to a life-threatening operation. All this so Lex could walk again.

But who had given his father the right to play god with his life?

Lex brought his hand to his eyes to rub them and winced immediately on the pain he could still feel in his abdomen. He'd bought two bullets that day.

Could it get any worse?

Like in answer to his question, he suddenly realized he wasn't alone in the room.

And the person sitting by his bed wasn't his father.

It was a woman. Blond, short hair. Green eyes. Curvy, but in a delicious way.

Chloe Sullivan.

"Chloe?" Lex asked, rubbing his eyes once again and ignoring the pain that shot through his body. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Is that how you welcome the only person who came to visit you, Lex?" the bitter answer came.

Lex started to think he was still asleep. The whole situation was too bizarre, too unrealistic. Why would Chloe be here anyway?

"Why would you come? Everybody hates me, including you," he said honestly.

Chloe winced at the resentment and pain in his voice. Obviously, the drugs that they'd given him during the operation still hadn't worn off as his usual poker face was not back on its place.

"I heard you were shot. It's Christmas Eve. No one should be alone on Christmas and no one should be shot!" Chloe said. She looked like she cared about him, but in the same time was troubled by it. Like she fought her reason. She shouldn't feel sorry for a man that had already done so much evil in the world, yet she was.

"It doesn't feel like Christmas to me. My father banned it when my mother died," Lex said like it was not a big deal.

"That's an awful thing to do to a child," Chloe voiced her concern.

There was silence stretching for some time.

Chloe finally spoke again, "what are you doing, Lex? What happened to you? You used to be such a great guy. You saved my life, remember? Where is that man that I…" she stopped for a moment, what caused Lex to look at her with curiosity, "… man that was my friend?" she finished, but he could tell that wasn't what she intended to say.

"He's gone," Lex just said.

"I don't believe that," Chloe told him. "There has to be something left to save."

He remained silent.

"Lex, I… I hate the fact that I have to dig in, to investigate you, to look for schemes… I even tried to help Lois with finding some dirt on you and… I just can't get rid of the image of the man you used to be. The man that saved my life. The man that was so sweet that summer when I was in hiding and I had no one else to talk to."

Lex turned his head back to her, his blue gray eyes locking with her green.

"It was Clark that turned his back on me and then everybody else. I never did anything…"

"You investigated him behind his back."

"Yes, but I was sick of him lying to me. He started it. He never trusted me."

"Lex…"

"Chloe, why are you here? You hate me and suddenly, on Christmas eve, it's all changed?"

"I think no one should be alone on Christmas. Not even you. I decided to come here as soon as I found out what happened."

"I'm not worth it and you know it."

"Or maybe that is just what you believe? Maybe you think you aren't, but Lex… we aren't determined by our parents, nor by our genes. Look at me, my mother is in psychiatric hospital, she's sick, Lex, and it's hereditary. But I am not giving up. I will fight to stay healthy."

Chloe suddenly wondered why she told him all of that.

"Not everything has its happy ending in life, Chloe. Not everybody can remain pure and innocent. I think it's about time for you to understand it." After those words he just turned on the side, away from her, wincing from pain as it seared through him once again.

He was hoping she would get the hint and just leave, but instead he was startled by the movement in his bed.

Chloe sat there and after a moment of hesitation she brought herself closer to hug him, to put her arms around him from the back.

He didn't say anything. He remained silent. He didn't show that he enjoyed it or hated it. He just laid there, with her.

She would never know how much comfort that simple gesture gave him.

She would never know how much he really felt at the moment.

How loud and fast his heart started beating.

And above all, she would never know that he felt tears in his eyes for the very first time since forever. He didn't cry, but he could feel his eyes getting a little glassy.

It meant so much to him that somebody was able to overlook his dark side and just be there for him on Christmas eve.

And then Lex realized it was the first Christmas he actually enjoyed.

Even after he'd gotten shot.

* * *

_Ten Years Later_

"So, how did you two get together?" little Alex asked, obviously very curious. He had to make a genealogy tree for school during the winter break, so he got interested in his parents' story.

"Oh, it was a very romantic and very tragic story," Chloe started, glancing in the direction of her husband.

It'd been eight years since they'd gotten married and through all that time she only loved him more and more.

"Really? What happened?" the little boy got excited.

Chloe sighed. After all she could tell him some things, not everything, she would have to wait a long time to tell him the details, because he was too little now to fully understand them. But she could tell him something. Anything to divert his attention from the Christmas tree and all the presents that were lying underneath. It wasn't the time to open them yet.

"You see… your daddy saved your mummy's life once and then they became friends, but drew apart later on."

"Why?"

"Sometimes it's just what happens in life, sweety," Chloe said and prayed that Alex wouldn't be too inquisitive about that.

"And what happened later?"

"Well, your daddy got mugged and then somebody shot him."

"That is why he has that scar on his belly?" the little boy guessed, quick in connecting the dots.

"Yes, that is why exactly," Chloe confirmed and glanced in the direction of her husband. "And your mummy heard about that and thought no one should be alone on Christmas. So your mummy went over to the hospital in the middle of the night and stayed with your daddy."

"And then what happened?"

"Well, then your daddy and your mummy started getting closer together and the love that developed between them changed your daddy completely. Now he's a wonderful person and he loves us all very much."

Alex, clearly happy with the story, jumped off Chloe's laps and ran to his dad.

"I love you, daddy!" he yelled as he jumped to him.

"I love you, too, my little boy, but you have to be quiet, because you'll wake Lily," he smiled and put a finger to his lips.

"Is this scar from the shooting, too?" Alex asked while looking at his daddy's mouth.

"No," the answer came with a little laugh, "but this is a story for another time."

"Okey," Alex agreed and begun watching his little sister.

"She was the greatest gift," Lex told Chloe as she approached them.

"Well, I hoped to deliver her exactly on Christmas eve, but there was not a single doctor that would do a c section at that particular time," Chloe smiled to Lex and bet down to kiss him tenderly on the lips.

Alex put his little hands to his eyes to cover them.

Chloe burst into delicious laughter when she saw that.

"I think it's time for bed, Alex. And when you wake up tomorrow morning, the presents will be waiting for you to open."

If ten years ago somebody had told Chloe that she would end up marrying Lex and giving him two children she would've laughed at their face and found them a place at Belle Reve.

Now, she knew that destiny sometimes worked in mysterious ways.

Sometimes it surprised you. Sometimes you got something you couldn't even dream of.

THE END


End file.
